Calm down. Japan isn't homophobic. You're being weird.
Sure, it's definitely a step in the right direction. But that LGBT "understanding law " is again very superficial and watered down, doesn't ban discrimination at all. My cousin was very angry about it I remember. No where near good enough but better than nothing. Where did I say "Japan is homophobic because the unpopular ruling party blocks every effort"? As I said superficial acceptance yes, and things have improved over the years but it's still not easy being a LGBTQ+ person in Japan and that's the reality. Everyone assumes you're heterosexual straight away for starters and whenever my cousin says he's gay (when he's feeling brave enough to say it out loud because being openly gay isn't a thing), there's an awkward silence and people act like they don't know what to do with that kind of info. He even had to leave his job a few years back because of his sexuality. Also been refused housing because many landlords don't allow two men and reject same sex couples. There's no legal protection for him and his partner in their own country. Imagine that. My point is Japan still needs to do a lot better. Awareness is severely lacking and it's not doing enough at all.
It's actually ironic that homosexuality was widely accepted and practiced in Japan till Westerners came over with their Christian ideals and called Japan "barbaric" for openly having gay sex and that's how the current situation started. Religion the root of all evil. Sorry hope you're not religious. lol
OMG, loving this drama so much! I think this is the best season though I haven't watched the films yet. Love the real issues they bring up like no legal protection for gay people in Japan, ageing, holiday season dilemma when you're gay, meeting each other's families and so on.
Calm down. Japan isn't homophobic. You're being weird.
I get what you're saying but the fact is even though the public may support it, Japan still doesn't recognise same sex marriages (I know they've started same sex partnership certificates in big cities but they're not legally binding) nor is it willing to implement a law against discrimination towards LGBTQ+ or minorities. It is still difficult for people to be openly gay or lesbian. I have relatives in Japan who have told me stories over the years and yes things have improved a lot and there aren't outright homophobia and hatred as such but it is still very difficult.
Japan is a developed country, part of G7 and frankly needs to do a lot better. Doesn't help that their government is full of OAPs who are stuck in the 1950's mindset. Their PM fired one of his aides over horrific homophobic comments earlier this year but he was actually hired back only a few weeks later under a different position! Absolutely disgraceful. Only superficial acceptance of LGBTQ from the government and that's reflected in the daily life of a LGBTQ+ person in Japan.
I hope the public can put more pressure on the government to change if they're that in support of it, but I know the majority aren't interested in politics over there. Sigh. I hope my relative can get married to the love of his life in Japan in my lifetime. It's really unfair how Japan is treating minorities.
Haven't seen Kyoko Fukada for a long time and now her face doesn't move at all. She's expressionless like a robot and her mouth looks weird like she can't open it freely when she speaks.
No words other than ridiculous. I desperately wanted to like this season, but the script is so poor that it's going from bad to worse. If this is the kind of quality/standard the Japanese audience are happy with, no wonder Jdramas have fallen off a cliff in recent years.
Hmmm....not sure how I feel about this drama. As a work of fiction/drama, loved it and enjoyed every single minute of it, so if you don't want to take it too seriously and enjoy watching a group of people/friends as they go through life with ups and downs, I'd recommend it. But if you tend to think more deeply about a drama and its theme and, especially in this case, about the representation of the LGBTQ+ community, I'm not sure I'd recommend it tbh. Note: I don't know the original work, so I can only comment on the drama itself.
It left a bad taste in my mouth, because knowing the Japanese society in general as a whole, I feel like this kind of drama would just feed into the common misconception even more that "gay people can "turn" straight" or "being gay is just a phase". Personally I don't think they made it clear enough at the end that Eiji was miserable with Mieko and that he settled big time for a life of pretending to be straight, which is so unhealthy and wrong.
It's a drama that doesn't spoon feed you every little detail, so it's up to the audience to read between the lines and interpret the nuances and I think that's where the issue is. That would've been fine in a country with more LGBTQ+ awareness, as the audience would then be able to pick up on a lot of struggles and challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community in a heteronormative society and fill in the blanks themselves where the script left out, but in a country like Japan, where the awareness is lacking to say the least, non LGBTQ+ people would watch this and simply think nothing needs to be changed as "a gay man can be with a woman after all and have a family and lead a relatively good life". The scene where Eiji is crying into the robe would also be interpreted as "just someone crying over an ex and the complicated past" just like a straight person might cry over an ex/their past, nothing to do with the pain/struggle of pretending to be straight day in and day out.
I really wish they'd gone deeper into Eiji's character especially. There are still so many people in Japan who genuinely think that legalising gay marriage would affect the birth rate even further (this drama doesn't help at all) or other ridiculous beliefs about LGBTQ+ that are unthinkable in UK (e.g. being with a "beautiful woman" would make a gay man change his sexuality" lol), that it wouldn't surprise me if this drama ended up reinforcing misconceptions instead. The script attempts to deal with complex subjects as superficially as possible IMO and it was so frustrating to watch.
Honestly why does it happen again and again where I watch something LGBTQ+ related from Japan/Asia and end up feeling so uneasy/disturbed because I sense a lot of internalised heterosexism from the screenwriter/director. It's fine if they want to make a point about how totally wrong and damaging homophobia is and how that can affect a gay person, etc. but the script almost always never goes deep enough to deal with such issues. So to me it just ends up looking like they want to make homosexuality as ambiguous as possible, because the production team themselves feel awkward about it. They "walk on eggshells" because they're so scared of upsetting the majority heterosexuals (I can feel it through the screen lol). Even when one of the characters is a gay person, they never develop the character well enough to give them proper representation. I'm really getting fed up with scripts that normalise internalised heterosexism and straightwashing from Asia.
Ffs. Eye roll! Seriously, why does Minato get so panicky and horrified at the mere thought of sex and intimacy??? He's 30 but acts like 12. So your BF (yes, a BF, not a random stranger) gives you a quick peck on the lips and you're so shocked that you fall backwards to the floor??? What???
If he wasn't ready emotionally, physically, mentally to be in a relationship, why agree to be in one in the first place? It's really not fair on Shin. At this rate, I wish Shin and Asuka would just f each other's brains out like most teenagers do!! lol
I'm thinking there must be a big market for those who have a fetish for being pursued by an aggressive teenager and rejecting him (like "Oh, I couldn't possibly, you're too young!" but secretly loving it) lol That's where Minato comes in. Those who get turned on by this kind of thing can imagine themselves as Minato and get lost in their fantasy!
I have a feeling this series is going to be about Shin trying to get Minato into bed and Minato freaking the f out like it's the end of the world till the last 5 minutes of episode 12. Hope I'm completely wrong of course, because I want to see some development and character growth asap! We'll see.
I always think Ren is tall whenever I see an upper body shot of him, but then he stands up and he's shorter than Kazuma lol It's his broad shoulders misleading!
Been waiting for a mature drama like this! Loving it so far, but omg episode 7 was so frustrating to watch! All the characters do my head in, that's why this drama is so addictive. lol
Michi is a classic enabler along with Makoto (seems like he "inherited" it from his mum) , and Kaede and Yoichi are just selfish so and so who take advantage of people's weaknesses.
Kinda makes me sad watching this drama in some ways because you meet someone, you fall in love, get married, but somewhere along the way you drift apart, no longer the same two people as before and you find yourself going through the motions, going along with the status quo, too scared to make any real changes even though you know deep down you're unhappy, so you take the superficial easy way out, ie. cheating (physical or emotional). Happens all the time. Many of us are cowards, deeply flawed. Sigh...
I normally stay away from a romcom but this one is turning into my guilty pleasure! LOL The drama doesn't take itself too seriously and it relishes in throwing in tons of clichés like FL stumbling/falling and SML caching her followed by a long deep eye contact loooool Hahaha It's so cute, funny, cringey (in a good way). Looking forward to the rest of the series!
Loving this drama so much!!! Shame that there aren't many people watching it and the comment section is dead! Also can't believe all the big names in it! lol
Omg, the last scene of episode 4 was just so incredible, so raw and intense, yet so fragile and delicate. Kimura's acting was superb and I felt every bit of Togawa's pain, desperation, being hopeless in love with someone who can't love you back (in his mind), guilt, shame, panicking because he can't believe he overstepped the mark in a spectacular fashion with his manager of all people. A mixture of complex intense emotions pouring out through the screen, amazingly conveyed/expressed in just a few minutes! What a performance.
I felt like I'd just got off a rollercoaster after watching that scene because it was shot in such an intimate way that made me feel like I was in the room with them and there wasn't even a pause at the end for me to reflect/stay in the moment, but went straight to the next episode's trailer without giving me so much as a moment to breathe!
The kisses, the finger in the mouth were all just so hot/amazing too, but for me personally, Togawa baring his soul and sobbing his heart out on the floor like that was just one of the most heartbreaking yet so hauntingly beautiful moments. I'm sure this will stay with me for a long time.
Meh, it's bad. Too straightforward. You can see what's coming a mile off, no suspense or surprise whatsoever. The script felt so outdated like something written 20 years ago.
As for acting, thank god for Oguri Shun, he carried the whole film on his own. Suda Masaki was ok. He didn't really have much to play with. Fukase wasn't convincing at all imo. Sure it was a good performance for a singer who had never acted before, but if you judge him sorely as an actor, it was such a superficial performance. Didn't quite get the intensity of insanity, how deranged, unhinged his character is supposed to be. Simply twisting your face and screaming isn't going to cut it. Overall, a waste of time. Not for me.
Ah glad episode 7 cleared up the Shinya and Suzu "situation" because I know some thought it was a love triangle, but personally I just didn't/couldn't see it, thought I was going mad lol Credit to Dean's acting I guess because it's always felt a bit "off" like you're not quite sure what exactly is going on, felt more like admiration/curiosity rather than romantic feelings, but then you can't put a finger on it.
It's true though that we tend to assume something sexual/romantic is going on when we see a man and woman together (especially if they're both single) and I even know some irl who refuse to believe anything platonic can exist between a straight man and a woman. I think it was a "got ya" from the screenwriter and a message for us to stop labelling everything and mind our own business! lol
Do you have links about Kitamura Takumi bullying him? That sounds serious but I Googled and couldn't find anything.…
Yeah I agree I wouldn't believe what this person is saying tbh. They posted two links to some dodgy looking blog/gossip sites with no evidence whatsoever and nothing at all to do with this drama or Takumi. They must be high on something lol Just some random bloggers speculating on what happened and people take it as a fact. It's really toxic.
Wasn't there a kis ep. 4 just before the finger thing? It looked very much like one! Am I mistaken?
Hidden with the umbrella? Not sure... Don't remember that scene at all, unless the version I read online cut that specific scene out for some reason, but I highly doubt that. As far as I remember Togawa leaned in to kiss Nozue and their lips were very close like in the drama, but they got interrupted.
Wasn't there a kis ep. 4 just before the finger thing? It looked very much like one! Am I mistaken?
Well, to anyone wondering, there is no "Happy Ever After" kiss in the original manga (they get interrupted just like in the drama), so that's why they didn't kiss in the alley. Sure, they could've written in an additional kiss scene, but I think the director wanted to respect and follow the original work as closely as possible, especially as it's a very popular manga and probably didn't want to upset the fans of the original work, so they didn't change anything. Bad decision? Maybe, maybe not. Some of us are happy with it, some are not. C'est la vie!
Who's the idol? If you're talking about Yagi Yusei, he's not an idol BTW. Please stop spreading false info (I know you don't mean to, but I'm fed up with people mentioning Yusei is an idol when he's not.) He's in a boy band called The Fantastics, part of the Exile Tribe, but they're not idols, they're artists. Don't confuse them with Johnny's groups!
It's actually ironic that homosexuality was widely accepted and practiced in Japan till Westerners came over with their Christian ideals and called Japan "barbaric" for openly having gay sex and that's how the current situation started. Religion the root of all evil. Sorry hope you're not religious. lol
Japan is a developed country, part of G7 and frankly needs to do a lot better. Doesn't help that their government is full of OAPs who are stuck in the 1950's mindset. Their PM fired one of his aides over horrific homophobic comments earlier this year but he was actually hired back only a few weeks later under a different position! Absolutely disgraceful. Only superficial acceptance of LGBTQ from the government and that's reflected in the daily life of a LGBTQ+ person in Japan.
I hope the public can put more pressure on the government to change if they're that in support of it, but I know the majority aren't interested in politics over there. Sigh. I hope my relative can get married to the love of his life in Japan in my lifetime. It's really unfair how Japan is treating minorities.
It left a bad taste in my mouth, because knowing the Japanese society in general as a whole, I feel like this kind of drama would just feed into the common misconception even more that "gay people can "turn" straight" or "being gay is just a phase". Personally I don't think they made it clear enough at the end that Eiji was miserable with Mieko and that he settled big time for a life of pretending to be straight, which is so unhealthy and wrong.
It's a drama that doesn't spoon feed you every little detail, so it's up to the audience to read between the lines and interpret the nuances and I think that's where the issue is. That would've been fine in a country with more LGBTQ+ awareness, as the audience would then be able to pick up on a lot of struggles and challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community in a heteronormative society and fill in the blanks themselves where the script left out, but in a country like Japan, where the awareness is lacking to say the least, non LGBTQ+ people would watch this and simply think nothing needs to be changed as "a gay man can be with a woman after all and have a family and lead a relatively good life". The scene where Eiji is crying into the robe would also be interpreted as "just someone crying over an ex and the complicated past" just like a straight person might cry over an ex/their past, nothing to do with the pain/struggle of pretending to be straight day in and day out.
I really wish they'd gone deeper into Eiji's character especially. There are still so many people in Japan who genuinely think that legalising gay marriage would affect the birth rate even further (this drama doesn't help at all) or other ridiculous beliefs about LGBTQ+ that are unthinkable in UK (e.g. being with a "beautiful woman" would make a gay man change his sexuality" lol), that it wouldn't surprise me if this drama ended up reinforcing misconceptions instead. The script attempts to deal with complex subjects as superficially as possible IMO and it was so frustrating to watch.
Honestly why does it happen again and again where I watch something LGBTQ+ related from Japan/Asia and end up feeling so uneasy/disturbed because I sense a lot of internalised heterosexism from the screenwriter/director. It's fine if they want to make a point about how totally wrong and damaging homophobia is and how that can affect a gay person, etc. but the script almost always never goes deep enough to deal with such issues. So to me it just ends up looking like they want to make homosexuality as ambiguous as possible, because the production team themselves feel awkward about it. They "walk on eggshells" because they're so scared of upsetting the majority heterosexuals (I can feel it through the screen lol). Even when one of the characters is a gay person, they never develop the character well enough to give them proper representation.
I'm really getting fed up with scripts that normalise internalised heterosexism and straightwashing from Asia.
If he wasn't ready emotionally, physically, mentally to be in a relationship, why agree to be in one in the first place? It's really not fair on Shin. At this rate, I wish Shin and Asuka would just f each other's brains out like most teenagers do!! lol
I have a feeling this series is going to be about Shin trying to get Minato into bed and Minato freaking the f out like it's the end of the world till the last 5 minutes of episode 12. Hope I'm completely wrong of course, because I want to see some development and character growth asap! We'll see.
Michi is a classic enabler along with Makoto (seems like he "inherited" it from his mum) , and Kaede and Yoichi are just selfish so and so who take advantage of people's weaknesses.
Kinda makes me sad watching this drama in some ways because you meet someone, you fall in love, get married, but somewhere along the way you drift apart, no longer the same two people as before and you find yourself going through the motions, going along with the status quo, too scared to make any real changes even though you know deep down you're unhappy, so you take the superficial easy way out, ie. cheating (physical or emotional). Happens all the time. Many of us are cowards, deeply flawed. Sigh...
It's so cute, funny, cringey (in a good way). Looking forward to the rest of the series!
I felt like I'd just got off a rollercoaster after watching that scene because it was shot in such an intimate way that made me feel like I was in the room with them and there wasn't even a pause at the end for me to reflect/stay in the moment, but went straight to the next episode's trailer without giving me so much as a moment to breathe!
The kisses, the finger in the mouth were all just so hot/amazing too, but for me personally, Togawa baring his soul and sobbing his heart out on the floor like that was just one of the most heartbreaking yet so hauntingly beautiful moments. I'm sure this will stay with me for a long time.
As for acting, thank god for Oguri Shun, he carried the whole film on his own. Suda Masaki was ok. He didn't really have much to play with. Fukase wasn't convincing at all imo. Sure it was a good performance for a singer who had never acted before, but if you judge him sorely as an actor, it was such a superficial performance. Didn't quite get the intensity of insanity, how deranged, unhinged his character is supposed to be. Simply twisting your face and screaming isn't going to cut it. Overall, a waste of time. Not for me.
It's true though that we tend to assume something sexual/romantic is going on when we see a man and woman together (especially if they're both single) and I even know some irl who refuse to believe anything platonic can exist between a straight man and a woman. I think it was a "got ya" from the screenwriter and a message for us to stop labelling everything and mind our own business! lol